


The Waterboy

by OnTheWingsOfFandoms



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, American Football, Bottom Merlin, Bullying, Clothing Kink, Crossdressing, F/F, Fluff and Smut, Football, Light BDSM, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Praise Kink, Public Sex, Smut, Some Plot, Underage Drinking, Underage Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2019-06-09 12:34:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15267603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnTheWingsOfFandoms/pseuds/OnTheWingsOfFandoms
Summary: What happens when Merlin, the new boy at school, is forced to be the new waterboy for the football team? The last thing he expects is to end up sleeping with them.





	1. Call Me the Waterboy

**Author's Note:**

> It has taken me forever but I am finally comfortable reuploading this fic. I've edited a lot because the old one made me cringe upon going back and reading it, so here we now have this rework of it. I hope everyone enjoyed it and is happy to have this fic back up again. It will be updated as regularly as I can.

It was Merlin’s first day at a new school, in a country he had only been in for a week, so to say he was nervous was an understatement. He was still excited all the same though, the school was beautiful, almost like a real life Hogwarts. Merlin had moved in with his mother’s mentor and fatherly figure, Gaius, to finish his last two years of high school since his mother did not approve of the low quality of education where they lived. After a phone call with Gaius, expressing her concerns, Gaius offered to keep Merlin for the school year since he could get him into Camelot Academy, the best high school in the country.

Merlin’s mother wasn't sure if she wanted to send him away as she never had before, but she wanted Merlin to really be able to go and make something of himself, so off to Camelot he went.

 

And so he was now here. Gaius would be his biology teacher, but promised not to mention that Merlin was living with him in school and also told Merlin not to expect any special treatment. Merlin excelled with the sciences, so he was more than fine with that. Gaius took him through the school and showed him his exact classes, introducing him to his teachers who were aware of his circumstances. They all seemed very nice and Merlin was excited about starting school, even though he was a little over a month late.

 

“Alright now Merlin, remember-"

 

“It might be a bit difficult to get used to the school’s pattern with others in it, I remember, Gaius.”

 

The science teacher shook his head as he handed Merlin his messenger bag, “and don’t forget-"

 

“To check the office hours for my teachers if I'm having trouble with the work…” Merlin smiled confidently, and then added, “including you.”

 

“Exactly, now go on, have fun, but school work comes first.”

 

Merlin patted his bag and headed out with a grin before calling back, “I won’t let you down, Gaius!”

 

“That's Professor Gaius to you at eight thirty!”

 

Merlin chuckled as he ran down the pathway to the bus stop. He looked around at the  other houses, it was one of the largest gated communities he had ever seen. The houses were in a spiral with small streets and pathways separating some of the houses. The biggest house was at the most inner part of the circle, it took up a massive amount of space. It had a balcony, indoor parking garage, a pool, and beautiful garden. Merlin was not surprised to find out the mayor of the city was the one who lived there.

 

“Good morning!”

 

Merlin jumped at the sudden greeting as he stood at the bus stop, turning to face whoever had spoken, it was a girl wearing a yellow dress with white trimmings. Her curly hair was tied back in a ponytail and her eyes were bright with life.

 

“Hi,” Merlin replied a bit shyly.

 

“Oh, I should introduce myself,” she realized, “I'm Gwen, I saw you being taken around the school, but didn't get a chance to say hi, you're new right? To the school obviously, don’t know why I asked that.”

 

“Yeah, I'm Merlin,” he shook her hand and smiled, “yeah, I only moved to Camelot a week ago.”

 

“Oh, really?” She didn't seem used to people just moving to Camelot, “how have you liked it so far?”

 

“Well, to be honest with you, I haven't done much, so I guess it looks nice.”

 

She let out a laugh, “well, maybe you can do stuff after you’ve met more people, oh, you can hang out with me and my friend Morgana, she has a little brother named Mordred, he’s in our class. Morgana is in the year above,” she clarified and Merlin nodded.

 

Look at him, making friends and he hasn't even gotten to school yet. One point to Merlin, he thought to himself.

 

“Sure, that'd be great,” Merlin agreed just as the bus rounded corner, “this is ours?”

 

“This is ours,” Gwen confirmed.

 

They spent their time on the bus getting to know each other. Merlin learned Gwen was a member of the fashion club and made most of her own dresses. She extended and offer to join to Merlin but he explained fashion wasn't something he had a great amount of interest in. Gwen was understanding and told him about some of the other clubs and sports in the school.Their football team was one of the best and their other teams did well too.

 

Once the bus stopped, Merlin and Gwen separated to go to their lockers. Merlin taped a copy of his schedule onto the inside of his locker and added a few books before locking it and heading to homeroom which he had with Gaius. Merlin was almost surprised to see the older man sitting at his desk since he hadn't seen his car pass them while he stood at the bus stop, Gaius must have known another way.

 

“Professor,” Merlin greeted him as he took his seat towards the middle of the classroom.

 

“Take down your homework since you’re here so early,” Gaius told him. 

 

Merlin stifled a laugh, but did as he was told. He even began to do some of the assignment since it was only copying the vocab of a new chapter with its definition in his own words on paper.

Merlin and Gaius did their separate work quietly until that quiet was interrupted. 

 

“Just go Gwaine,” one boy said pushing another into the classroom.

 

“Alright, alright, no need to push Lance,” the boy, Gwaine, said as he walked over to Gaius. 

“Good morning professor,” he cleared his throat timidly, like a scared child fearing punishment, “I know I'm a bit behind on some of the chem work-’

 

“Some?” Gaius questioned with a raised eyebrow.

 

He coughed awkwardly and gave a dry laugh, “all of the chemistry work.”

 

“Yes, I am aware,” Gaius said now looking at him.

 

“Could I maybe make those assignments up?”

 

Gaius sighed and looked at the boy for a bit before finally nodding, “the six worksheets and the lab report can be turned into me by Friday, you're still responsible for the paper that is due next week.”

 

“But Friday’s game day, how about next Monday?”

 

“How about you work on the worksheets before Friday? Or better yet do your work on time.”

 

Gwaine sighed and nodded, “okay, that is true, thank you professor, I'll get them done.”

 

“Do you need more copies of the lab report?”

 

“You think I’d lose such an important- yes, I need a new copy,” he admitted.

 

Merlin chuckled at that, he sounded like chemistry was really putting him through it.

 

“Go get one at the desk by Merlin,” Gaius told him, “there's a folder there with your name on it, it will have all of your missing assignments.”

 

“Who- oh, oh, hello there,” Gwaine said as he walked over to Merlin, as though Gaius had told him he had the paper.

 

“Hi,” Merlin greeted him 

 

“I've never seen you around before,” Gwaine remarked, “are you new?”

 

“No, he just materialized into the same homeroom you've had for the first half of the quarter,” Gaius said sarcastically.

 

“Professor, I'm trying to be nice to the new student,” Gwaine explained.

 

“Last thing I need is for you to be corrupting one of my biology students with your poor habits,” Gaius responded.

 

Merlin laughed a bit, but did answer the original question, “I just got to Camelot a week ago.”

 

“Oh, I see,” Gwaine pulled the desk next to Merlin a bit closer before sitting in it, “do you like football Merlin?”

 

Merlin had figured Gwaine and his friend were football players, they both were wearing red varsity jackets with white cuffs and a gold dragon on the back.

 

The younger of the two shrugged, “it's alright I guess, I don't sit and watch it that often though and I definitely don't play.”

 

Gwaine grinned, “no? You should try watching the team practice one day, we have a practice today actually,” he said inviting him.

 

“Oh...um, I don't know if-"

 

“Lancelot, tell our new friend Merlin here, he should come to practice,” Gwaine shot over.

 

Lancelot leaned over from the doorway and looked at Merlin for the first time, at first he looked as though he was going to tell Gwaine to leave him alone, but then changed his mind, “watching the practices can be a lot of fun.”

 

Merlin looked out to Gaius for help, but the old man pretended not even hear the conversation, he must have felt Merlin's cry for help though since he did mutter, “Gwaine stop trying to recruit people to stand in the cold as you throw a ball back and forth, get your lab papers too.”

 

Gwaine sighed and got up to grab the papers then looked back, “so uh…Merlin,” he finally remembered his name, “what do you think, wanna come out see the team? Great way to get to know people.”

 

“I'll think about it.”

 

“Yes!” Gwaine cheered before sitting again.

 

“Alright, I need to get to my homeroom now,” Lancelot said, “I'll see you at first Gwaine, see you around Merlin.”

 

Shortly after that the first warning bell to be in homeroom rung and sent people rushing to their homerooms. After the final one went off teachers began to mark absences and write detentions for the late comers.

 

Once his classes started Merlin relaxed a lot more, it was comfortable and no one was overly curious about him moving to Camelot. He was happy to the he had three classes with Gwen, those being math, Arthurian legends, and English. Merlin had packed his own lunch so he could go up to the library and get work done as opposed to eating in the cafeteria. 

“Look who's here!” Merlin was startled from his work when he looked up and saw Gwaine with his friend Lancelot coming towards the back of the library where Merlin was seated.

 

“I'm sorry about him, I  promise he's here to do actual work and not just annoy you,” Lancelot said half jokingly. 

 

“Hey!” Gwaine protested.

 

Merlin laughed, “no, it's fine, I finished my work anyways.”

 

“Gwaine here could stand to take a lesson from you,” Lancelot sat down next to him as Gwaine sat at one of the computers to begin his work.

 

“Listen, Merlin,’ Lancelot spoke quietly, trying not to attract Gwaine’s attention, “don't feel obligated to come to the practice, Gwaine just likes inviting people and if you're not really all that interested in football it might not be much of your thing.”

 

Merlin smiled, at least he was honest, “I mean… I'll give it a try, I mean watching that is, maybe I can talk my new friend Gwen into coming.”

 

“Gwen?” Lancelot questioned, “you chose a good person to make your first friendship with, she's one of the player's little sisters, she comes sometimes when we need a fill in waterboy when our usual one is MIA.”

 

“Does he go MIA often?”

 

“Eh…” Lancelot looked uneasy before going on, “he's not exactly the most valued person on the field, so I don't blame him, some of the guys can get a bit rowdy.”

 

“Must be rough having to give out water to a bunch of guys sweating it out in buckets,” Merlin laughed, “maybe he needs like a helper or a break.”

 

Lancelot shrugged, “he always says he's going to quit one day, but I don't know if he ever will.”

 

Merlin nodded, “I'll come to the practice,” he gave a more definite tone to his answer, “but if it's too cold or full of weird football player rituals I'm leaving.”

 

Lancelot laughed at that, “weird football player rituals? Like what?”

 

“I don't know,” Merlin thought for a moment, “like who can put the football in their mouth the farthest or something.”

 

“Merlin, I have never heard of such a thing, sounds like something that'd happen in a porn or something.”

 

This time Merlin laughed, “what? No! I don't know what weird stuff footballers get up to.

 

“Nothing like that, I assure you, just the occasional party,” Lancelot assured him.

 

“I'll believe you until otherwise is proven,” Merlin agreed.

 

As Gwaine finished one of his papers he looked up, taking his earbuds out, “alright, I feel like I missed a good conversation.”

 

“Merlin is going to come to practice,” Lancelot told him.

 

“Yes! It'll be fun, I promise!”

 

“Right,” Merlin laughed. The bell went off for them to go on to their next classes.

 

As the day ended Merlin felt pretty secure at his new school. It was beautiful and so far full of nice people. He was making friends and even got to see some of the cool concept art Gwen was making for a medieval festival that was held in the spring.

As Merlin walked towards his locker he noticed the hallway was a bit rowdy. Down the hall was a poor boy getting pushed around by some of the football team. Merlin knew they played football since they had the same varsity jackets as Lancelot and Gwaine. He geared up to go jump into help, he wasn't about to just ignore it, but before he could the team was dispersed by a barking voice telling them to get to practice or run extra laps for lateness. Merlin couldn't help but to roll his eyes, right they get in trouble for being late not bullying some guy.

 

One of the boys staggered back to push him back down.

 

Merlin's breath caught in his throat, but managed to come out with a, “leave him alone.”

 

The player looked shocked to be spoken to like that, “who are you?”

 

“Does it matter? You're like double his size…” the bigger teen leered at Merlin who didn't back down, “besides don't you have practice? Wouldn't want to be late would you?”

 

“GREGSON!”

 

With a final glare and a sharp, “I'll see you at practice,” pointed towards the boy still on the floor, he turned and left. 

 

Merlin let out a breath before reaching out a hand to help the other boy, “well, someone forgot to teach him to play nicely with others.”

 

“Thank you,” the boy took his hand and stood up, “I'm George, you're new aren't you?”

 

“Does everyone just know each other around here?” Merlin laughed. 

 

“Nah, no one else would have stood up for me, they wouldn't want to be on the team’s bad side,” George said bushing himself off.

 

“Shouldn't stop them from doing the right thing,” Merlin protested, but did not push the issue, “what did he mean he'd see you on the field?”

 

“I'm the waterboy- or punching bag, whichever title you prefer really,” George said bitterly. 

 

“Wait- I don't understand, if they treat you like that why be the waterboy?” Merlin recalled Lancelot admitting some of the players being a bit rowdy, this far surpassed rowdiness.

 

“It's my dad, he’s really proud I'm involved in football in some way even if it is just being the waterboy. So, I stay on, but I really want to quit, it's just…”

 

“You don't want to disappoint your dad?”

 

“Right.”

 

Merlin nodded as they began walking in the direction of Merlin’s locker so they weren't just standing in the middle of the hall.

 

“Does your dad have any other interests? Aside from football I mean,” Merlin asked.

 

“Well...“ George seemed to think on it for a moment before coming up with something, “he likes grilling, he’s always looking at new grills, but I can't exactly find common ground with him on that all school year.”

 

“Maybe you can,” Merlin said thoughtfully, “I mean it isn't like you can't use of those mini grills inside, maybe you could bond over grilling with your dad instead of getting bullied by full of themselves football players?”

 

George gave him a small smile, “thanks...uh I didn't get your name, sorry.”

 

“Oh, it's fine, I'm Merlin.”

 

“Thanks Merlin, I'll think about it, really.”

 

“Alright George, see you around.”

 

Merlin sighed and put away all of his books before shutting his locker, smiling when he saw a familiar face coming down the hallway. 

 

“I heard you stood up for George against one of the players,” she said in a concerned voice, “are you alright?”

 

Merlin shrugged, “yeah, I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?”

 

“Well, I mean you're a lot smaller than most guys.”

 

“Gee thanks Gwen.”

 

She laughed, “I mean the guys on the team, I didn't mean-’

 

“I know it's alright,” Merlin said laughing with her, “do they always treat him like shit?”

 

Gwen sighed, “it isn’t the whole team, but usually, it's awful really.”

 

“I met two of the players, Gwaine and Lancelot, they didn't seem...horrible.”

 

Gwen was quick to defend them, “they aren't, they really aren't, they're just a bit passive to how George is treated, to them… they see it as George wouldn't stay if he hated it so much.”

 

“What if George really loved football and that's why he stayed despite the treatment? It's not right.”

 

“Oh, I agree with you there, it isn't right, it's just… I don't want you to think all of the players are bad, they have their flaws but they aren't all terrible to George, or anyone for that matter.”

 

Merlin nodded, it did take Gwaine and Lancelot down a bit in how he viewed them, but he could understand where Gwen was coming from. He still didn't think it was right everyone stood by on the basis of, ‘George could leave if he wanted to’ though.

 

Merlin was re-considering going to the football practice at all, but when Gwen offered to go with him he decided he’d go anyways. 

Merlin wasn’t surprised to find Gwaine lingering by the gates of the field, a grin spread across his face at seeing Merlin coming towards the field with Gwen. 

 

“Merlin! You really came,” he said excitedly, as if a part of him thought Merlin was merely humoring him and that Merlin had no real intention of coming to the practice. 

 

“Yeah, but don’t get too happy to see me, one of your teammates probably hates me,” Merlin laughed. 

 

Gwaine’s head moved to the side in question, his eyes flashing towards Gwen for explanation. 

 

“Merlin defended George… against Eddy,” she provided.

 

“Oh, he’ll get over it, he needs to lay off George anyways.”

 

“It seems like no one ever tells him, or anyone else that messes with George that for that matter,” Merlin said pointedly. 

 

Gwaine looked down with a nervous laugh, then back up to meet Merlin’s eyes, for a moment the younger boy wanted to curse those soft brown eyes, they made him a bit less angry, which was annoying, “that’s also true.”

 

“Gwaine, quit flirting and get your ass over here!”

 

“Coming, talk to you later Merlin, nice seeing you Gwen!”

 

Merlin laughed as Gwaine stumbled over to the rest of the team, he and Gwen sat in the bleachers. Neither of them payed the practice much attention, who wanted to watch a bunch of guys running around? Alright, maybe Merlin did take a few glances to the field every now and then. 

 

The field didn’t capture their attention until it was just about over where a loud disruption was made. By the time Merlin and Gwen looked up, they realized they had missed a lot. George was on the ground with a tray of water bottles surrounding him. Lancelot was the only thing between him and what appeared to be a pissed player. 

There was some muffled outbursts and curses, but the most prominent words that made their ways to listening ears on the bleachers, was George’s rageful, “I QUIT!” before he stormed off. 

Merlin and Gwen had made their way to the grass by the time George got to them, he was red in the cheeks and  looked ready to angry cry, Merlin recognized that look from anywhere. 

 

“You were right Merlin, I don’t need this team to be close to my father, I’m going home,” George said throwing the tray he had instinctually taken with him to the ground and storming out of the football field gate. 

 

“Who would have guessed a little advice from a new friend would have finally gotten through to him,” Gwen mused aloud as she and Merlin began picking up the tray and snapping its handle back on. 

 

When they looked up four football players were walking towards them. Two of which were Lancelot and Gwaine, the other two Merlin did not know yet. 

 

“Thanks for picking up the tray,” the one with curly brown hair said as the other one took it from Gwen. 

 

“No problem Leon, I see you guys finally lost your waterboy.”

 

Leon sighed, “I don’t even know what the argument was about this time.”

 

“Might have something to do with being constantly bullied,” Merlin coughed and then looked away, but spoke clearly enough that what he said was painfully obvious. 

 

The one named Leon nodded, “more than likely, Gwen do you know anyone that could fill in for the rest of the season?”

 

“If anyone knows someone that has the time to do this it’s you,” the other player agreed.

 

“Thanks Elyan, I guess having a sister who knows everyone comes in handy, but I can’t say I know anyone that would- unless,” Gwen turned to look at Merlin, and Merlin almost doubled over with laughter.

 

“Oh, oh, hell no,” Merlin stopped laughing, “you can’t be serious Gwen?”

 

She shrugged, “well, I mean you don’t have any other extracurricular obligations, maybe just temporarily? Until I can find someone else who can?”

 

“Um… I’m sorry, I know it seems to have gone under the radar, but just one day here has been enough to see the waterboy tends to get not only the short end of the stick, but beat with it too.”

 

“That won’t happen with you, Merlin,” Gwaine promised, “we’ll look out for you.”

 

“Is that as well as George was looked after?”

 

“No,” Gwaine said plainly, but then quickly added on, “we’ve learned our lesson there, of letting things get out of control, it won’t be that way.”

 

“Why can’t you just get your own water?” Merlin grumbled.

 

“Then we won’t be practicing as much,” Leon answered, “you have my word as co-captain, no one will mess with you.”

 

“And mine as Gwen’s brother to look after her friend,” Elyan swore. 

 

Merlin did not like being put on the spot like this. He put his hand over his mouth as he thought about for a moment. 

 

He looked at Gwen, “how long do you think it’ll take to find someone?”

 

“Give me until November?”

 

Merlin heaved in a deep sigh, “if someone so much as tries to put their hands on me, I’m filling their water up with ice and mud then dumping it on them before taking the same exit as George.”

 

“We’ll have your back, Merlin,” Gwaine insisted again. 

 

Lancelot nodded then popped up a bit, “fair warning Arthur is a bit of a prat to everyone, he’s kinda rude, but nothing horrible, he’s tolerable, rather.”

 

Merlin dropped his hands and nodded, “fine, I’ll be the waterboy.”


	2. He Will Be the One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merlin finally meets Arthur, but will this prat deter the waterboy?

“I really don't know how it happened!” Merlin exclaimed in frustration to Gaius who was sitting down at the dinner table as they ate.

 

“Well, to me it seems like you got yourself talked into something that should be… rather amusing,” Gaius chuckled as he dug into his pasta.

 

Merlin groaned, simply stabbing at the fettuccini as he cast his gaze down, “do you think it is too late to back out?”

 

Gaius shook his head, “so long as the football players keep their part of the deal up to not torment you, it'd be wrong to go back on a commitment Merlin. Also, stop playing with your food, it'll get cold and you'll have yet another thing to mope around for.”

 

“I'm not moping,” the teenager mumbled before taking a forkful of pasta and shoving it in his mouth, “I'm sulking, there’s a difference.”

“On the bright side of things Merlin, it would be most amusing to see one of the players doused with water,” Gaius admitted with a laugh, “I should say they've had it coming for years now.”

 

“And mud,” Merlin reminded him, “Ice water and mud,” and in spite of himself Merlin began to laugh as well, “maybe this won’t be awful, I mean it is only temporary.”

 

“That's the spirit,” Gaius cheered him on, “now, there's dishes to be done in the kitchen,” Gaius said as he pushed in his chair and headed upstairs.

 

As he reached the midway point he peered back down, “oh, and Merlin?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Things will work themselves out in the end, for the time being I'm sure you'll be an excellent waterboy, just remember school work comes first.”

 

“Thanks Gaius, I will,” Merlin wore a small smile as he picked up the dishes from dinner and headed to the kitchen sink to clean them.

 

Merlin played music as he cleaned up the kitchen and was surprised to see his phone light up with a phone call. He expected it to be his mother, which would be odd since she was usually at work around this time, but Merlin could think of anyone else who would call him. It was an unknown number with a Camelot area code, so Merlin answered it. He was almost surprised to hear the other voice on the line.

 

“Hi Merlin!”

 

“Gwaine, what a surprise, when did you get my number?” Merlin questioned.

 

“Took it out of Gwen’s phone,” he said with a laugh, “that's okay isn't it?”

 

“I mean, I don't mind you having my number,” Merlin laughed, “but I don't know if Gwen will appreciate you going through her phone.”

 

“She’ll understand,” he said, “I've got a question.”

 

“Depending on your question I might have an answer.”

 

“Do you want to hang out with me tomorrow? I mean after practice of course,” Gwaine asked carefully. 

 

Was he asking him on a date?

 

It couldn't be, Merlin shook his head, or could it? 

Merlin didn't want to get himself all excited and find out Gwaine really wanted to just hang out as friends. That was alright too, of course, but Merlin would be lying if he said he didn't find Gwaine attractive, something he had been trying to ignore.

Actually all of the football players were good looking, come to think of it.

 

Beside the point, he needed to answer Gwaine.

 

“Um… won't you be tired? I mean school and practice already seem like a lot on their own.”

 

“I’ll be fine,” Gwaine promise, “of course you don't have to, only if you want to.”

 

“Where would we be hanging out?”

 

“Can it be a surprise?”

 

“I don't like surprises.”

 

“What if I promised you'd like this one?”

 

“You've only known me a day, how would you know what I like?”

 

“There are very few people who wouldn't like this.”

 

Merlin waited before responding, he was probably going to regret this, but here he went again, agreeing to things he'd probably end up hating, “sure."

 

“Yes! See you tomorrow Merlin, I've gotta work on some of this stuff for Professor Gaius."

 

“Alright, goodnight Gwaine.”

 

“Goodnight.”

 

When Merlin hung up he looked at his phone with a loopy smile  before texting Gwen.

 

_ Gwaine got my number from your phone _

 

_ I figured that's what he was rummaging for, I'm sorry _

 

_ Oh, no don't be it's fine. I was just wondering something about Gwaine _

 

_ What is it? _

 

_ Does Gwaine like guys _

 

_ He's openly bi _

_ Wait _

_ Why? _

_ Do you like him _

_ Merlin! _

 

_ I was putting dishes away no need to spam and no. I just think he's a little cute _

 

Merlin grinned to himself, so it was very well possibly a date. It wasn't every day he got asked to hang out by a hot guy on the football team, so could you really blame Merlin if all he did was smile like an idiot for the rest of the evening. So far moving to Camelot seemed like one of the best things he'd ever done, despite the football players’ awful treatment of George, Merlin was willing to give them another chance. He was really going to try not to hate them, he told himself, everyone deserves a second chance, right? He was going to really give it his best effort.

  
  


The next morning Merlin stood at the bus stop expecting Gwen, who unsurprisingly showed.

 

“Good morning Gwen,” he greeted her first this time.

 

“Good morning Merlin, ready for your date with Gwaine?”

 

“Who told you!?”

 

She let out a laugh before swatting Merlin on his arm, “I'm not stupid Merlin, first you ask me if Gwaine likes guys then you tell me you thinks he's cute, not to mention him grabbing your number from my phone, it was obvious. And if that wasn't enough, my brother told me after Gwaine told him why he had my phone in the first place,” she explained. 

 

Merlin twisted the corner of his mouth, “I mean he didn't say it was a date to me, I didn't want to assume-"

 

“He called it a date to my brother,” Gwen quickly said, she could tell that little word was probably tugging at Merlin’s mind, as it would others in his position. 

 

“Oh thank you Gwen,” he grinned, “I was scared he really did want to hang out as just friends and was like… I don't know how to describe what I was like actually.”

 

“Look at you Merlin, only your second day here and already got the moves on for Gwaine.”

 

“I do not have any, “moves” on for Gwaine,” Merlin insisted.

 

“Mhm, right Merlin,” she laughed a bit more, “oh, here comes the bus.”

 

They both boarded the bus and headed off to school. Merlin might have only been here for two days, but he didn't feel like he was a total outsider. He had felt that before when he went places and didn't know anyone, but in Camelot, he didn't totally feel like the person that came in as a total outsider.

It was a nice feeling.

 

Once he got to homeroom Merlin was not the least bit surprised to see Gaius had beaten them there and was already getting work done at his desk for upcoming lessons.

Merlin didn't want to bother him so he took his seat and got a start on his own work. He wasn't all that surprised when Gwaine following by Lancelot came in, but this time they had another football player with them. He didn't look familiar to Merlin. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, he wore the same kind of jacket as Gwaine and Lancelot. Gwaine promptly pointed Merlin out before coming over to him, the blonde nodded as if he was giving Gwaine his approval before pulling Lancelot back out the door. Merlin could still see Lancelot’s back peeking out from the doorway. 

_ What were they up to? _

 

“Morning Merlin,” Gwaine greeted him before hopping on to the desk in front of him and sitting down. 

 

“Good morning, who’s your friend?” Merlin asked gesturing to the doorway.

 

“That, Merlin, would be the royal princess himself, Arthur, the captain of the football team,” Gwaine said it with a certain fondness Merlin couldn’t help but to pick up on. 

 

“Why’s he here?”

 

“Oh, he wanted to see what the new waterboy looked like and I wanted to see you, so me and Lancelot brought him over,” Gwaine answered, “are we still on for today after practice?” It seemed like Gwaine did not want to spend too much time on the subject of Arthur.

 

Merlin nodded, “yeah, I didn’t make any other plans, besides I need to get to know places other than where I live and school.”

 

Gwaine laughed, “right, so we’ll head out after practice. I brought my car with me so-”

 

“You can drive!?” Merlin asked excitedly.

 

Where he was from it was rare for anyone to drive legally since the laws of his country were so strict about teenage driving and hours. 

 

Gwaine grinned, proud to have gotten a genuine reaction out of Merlin, “I can, very well if I do say so myself.”

 

“Cool, I can’t wait for-” Merlin paused as he caught Lancelot’s eyes darting into the classroom, he and the other player, Arthur, were nodding together. 

“I think your friends want you,” Merlin said just before the first warning bell rang. 

 

“Yeah, I’ll be back, for homeroom,” he said before moving over to them, they all disappeared from the doorway. 

 

Gwaine grinned, “so, what do you think?”

 

“Well,” Arthur crossed his arms over his chest, “he’s attractive, I suppose. How do we know he’ll go along with what we want?”

 

“That’s what Gwaine and I are going to find out today,” Lancelot answered, he handed Arthur a copy of Merlin’s schedule, “try seeing him at his free period or lunch, this only works if all of us like him, so you should focus on getting to know him today. Leon and Elyan are on board, Percival will interact with him a bit more at the field today,” he explained thoroughly. 

 

Arthur nodded, “and you two both are positive? Why?”

 

“For starters, have you seen him?” Gwaine grinned, “secondly, he’s got a cute personality, I think if we’re going to have someone to bring the fantasy to life, it could be him, it just felt right when I saw him yesterday.”

 

Arthur sighed before nodding once more, “alright, Gwaine, Lancelot, i trust you two, if you think he’d be a good fit to us, I’ll make the effort in seeing him today.”

 

“Alright, we’ll make sure today goes well and we can all decide tonight, well, we except for Merlin, I was thinking we could talk to him about it after the game on Friday?”

 

“So soon?” Arthur questioned.

 

“No sense in putting it off if everyone, including Merlin, is comfortable,” Lancelot said and then raised an eyebrow, “if you’re not comfortable with diving in we can wait Arthur, after all you always say this stuff only works if everyone feels good about it.”

 

“It’s fine with me, I was just surprised about you and Gwaine’s eagerness,” Arthur smiled, “let’s see if this waterboy has it in him.”

  
  
  


Arthur did as he said he would and found Merlin at his free period. Arthur was supposed to be in literature, but he knew the teacher would never write him up, so there he was at the library. Arthur could appreciate Merlin’s taste for a less crowded library, it’s hard to get much work done with people standing all around for leisure more so than any important work. 

Arthur found him at the back of the library, his knees to his chest as he tapped his pencil against his jaw, puzzled by an assignment. Arthur looked him over fully, more so than he did when he had been at homeroom, he was attractive. A tall thin frame and dark hair that laid perfectly on his head. 

Arthur liked what he saw, now it was time to actually introduce himself. 

 

“You’re the waterboy?” He asked casually walking back to Merlin. 

 

The younger teen looked at him for a moment, “the name’s Merlin.”

 

Arthur raised an eyebrow, “I’m the captain of the team.”

 

“Yeah, I know,” Merlin said turning to face him completely, “Arthur, right?”

 

“Right,” Arthur pulled up a seat for himself and sat down next to Merlin, “I’m sure the others went over the responsibilities of the waterboy, correct?”

 

“Yep, did they go over my conditions?” Merlin asked. 

 

Arthur raised an eyebrow as a smirk crossed his lips, “oh? They neglected to mention those.”

 

“Yeah, so I’m not a fan of how George was treated, he might not have able to play on the field, but he was still a helpful part of the team, he shouldn’t have been being bullied, no one should be really, but least of all the person giving you water,” Merlin pointedly, “so, my conditions are simple, if you or any of your players so much as try anything you did to George on me and it’s over, I dump a ton of ice water and mud on you, you as in the offender, not necessarily you,  _ you  _ you get what I mean, “ Merlin shaking his head, “and I’m gone.”

 

“Hm,” Arthur pursed his lips, he liked Merlin’s spirit, “I’ll see to it that you’ll be fine… as long as you can keep up with your duties.”

 

Merlin squinted at him, “I didn’t leave room for an as long as.”

 

“And I don’t leave room for error in who makes the team, waterboy is technically part of the team,” Arthur gave him a smug smile, “I’ll see you at practice, waterboy.”

 

“The name is Merlin!” Merlin called after him as Arthur stood up and headed out the door. 

 

Merlin couldn’t see it but Arthur wore a smile that said one thing, “he will be the one.” 

 


	3. Am I Interrupting?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merlin and Gwaine finally go on there date, and what's that in the air? Is it the sparks of a relationship or just a passing moment between them?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, this was supposed to be posted weeks ago, but I have been super busy with college stuff (1 more week!!!), but finally got the chance to do some editing and updating, and this was first on the list of things to do in relation to fanfic writing. Thank you all for your patience and I hope you enjoy this chapter. I had fun writing it.

Merlin could not help but to smile when he thought back to his encounter with Arthur throughout the day. The team captain seemed to be a prat, an annoyingly hot prat, but nonetheless a prat. By all means he thought he would completely detest Arthur, but that wasn’t all he had felt during his interaction with him and walking away from it planted a seed of curiosity for what was soon to come. There was something about him that had engaged Merlin’s interest. Merlin pushed all thoughts about Arthur to the back of his mind, he was consumed by thoughts about the date he had with Gwaine, imagining a million different ways it could go. Merlin could figure out how he really felt about Arthur later, and maybe get Gwen’s opinion on the captain of the football team. Merlin couldn’t help but to laugh aloud when he thought about it, getting the attention of football players had never been Merlin’s intention, but he’d be lying if he said he did not enjoy it. He wasn’t sure what could come of it, but he looked forward to seeing it through as the waterboy. Just until Gwen found a replacement that is.

 

This just might be fun.

Or a total disaster.

Whichever one, Merlin figured with his luck it could go either way.

 

As the school day ended Merlin headed out into the brisk air to begin his duties as the waterboy. It was a simple task, but Merlin still was not all completely thrilled about it despite his spike in intrigue for the players. He carried the freshly filled tray of water over to the field and saw Gwen already talking to Gwaine and Lancelot by the bench where the other players sat.

 

The conversation they had been having abruptly stopped as Merlin approached them.

 

“Merlin,” Gwen greeted him, her tone of voice making Merlin slightly suspicious of exactly why they had stopped talking.

 

“Hey guys… what’s going on?”

 

“Oh, um… I was just-” Gwen began to explain her being there, but Gwaine quickly jumped into help.

 

“Giving us an update about the search for the waterboy,” Gwaine answered quickly, “you know, so you won’t have to be stuck with us for the entire season.”

 

Merlin raised an eyebrow, he didn’t believe that for a moment, they were far too jumpy, but still he let it go. Maybe they were talking about the date or something and didn’t want Merlin to know, he’d wait and see, maybe he would ask Gwen later.

 

“Okay, Gwen you’re staying for practice, right?”

 

“Oh, sorry Merlin,” she glanced at Gwaine and Lancelot, “but I can’t you see… I have to… I have to-”

 

“Go help Morgana with something,” Lancelot interjected, “specifically helping her with getting Mordred not to be so anti social.”

 

“Right,” Gwen said nodding, “so gotta go, bye Merlin! Have fun!” She then ran off the field, with one last smile shot Merlin’s way.

 

“I need to go change for practice,” Gwaine said heading towards the locker room. Lancelot stood there sheepishly as he was already changed for practice and had no excuse to leave.

 

“You’re all up to something, aren’t you?” Merlin said squinting at Lancelot.

 

Lancelot gave him a small smile at him, “I promise it will be worth your while.”

 

Merlin grinned, “better be,” he then laughed, “your captain is a prat by the way, I finally met him officially.”

 

“Oh, I know,” Lancelot said laughing with him, “but, he is a great guy. I promise you’ll grow to like him after spending more time with him,” he promised, “excited to hang out with Gwaine after practice?”

 

Merlin blushed lightly at his cheeks, shuffling where he stood on the field, “well, I mean… it’s cool to hang out with someone since I’m new… and stuff.”

 

“And stuff?” Lancelot questioned with a small grin and teased, “you’re cute Merlin.”

 

Merlin’s eyes shot up at that, he didn’t get a chance to say anything as Lancelot held up a finger to his own lips at the approach of Arthur.

 

“Lancelot, is Gwaine changing or messing around again,” Arthur questioned as he walked up to them, Leon and Percival on either of his sides, Merlin tried to step out of their way, but they formed a slight circle he managed to get in the middle of.

 

“Yeah, he’s getting ready now,” Lancelot said still smiling at the blush that had now reached Merlin’s ears.

 

“Are you cold, Merlin?” Percival asked, ready to dig his jacket out of his bag to give to him.

 

“N- no, I’m fine,” Merlin stammered, “um... I’ll go sit on the bench with the water,” he said as he squeezed through the huddle of football players, leaving them on their own.

  
  


Arthur couldn’t help but to laugh as he watched Merlin walk away, “what did you say to him?”

 

“I told him he was cute,” Lancelot answered.

 

“He is cute,” Leon agreed, “what exactly are you and Gwaine doing with him after practice anyways?”

 

Lancelot shook his head, “he doesn’t know I’m coming yet, we are going to let Gwaine see how much he actually likes him, then I’m going to come in.”

 

“How are you going to judge that? How much he likes him I mean.” Percival questioned.

 

Lancelot shrugged, “Gwaine thinks he can get a kiss or two in if he likes him.”

 

“I think I can get a kiss, or two, or a makeout session, whichever one,” Gwaine corrected as he walked up to the small huddle, “I really want to makeout with him, honestly.

 

Arthur shook his head at Gwaine’s daydream like gaze as he thought of the plan for the day, but he had to agree, “he does seem to like you Gwaine, so you might be able to,” Arthur said thinking on it, “try not to go overboard, I don’t want you to scare him.”

 

Gwaine feigned offense, “I would never!” he then looked at them with a more serious look, “but really, I won’t push anything, but Gwen seemed to really think it’ll work out.”

 

“Yes, she talked to me before one of my classes,” Arthur said nodding, “she and Merlin seem to get along very well.”

 

Elyan nodded in agreement, “she says he fits right in at Camelot, so perhaps.”

  


Once the other players began to gather they broke from their small huddle and officially began practice. It did get colder as practice went on so Merlin did eventually take Percival up on the offer to wear his jacket. It was so big on him he looked swaddled by the red and white fabric as he sat patiently on the bench. His hands were so cold he had no choice but to put gloves on, so he couldn’t use his phone anymore, which was annoying but it gave him the chance to pay attention to the team.

Merlin spent more time looking at the players he had been introduced to, Leon, Percival, Gwaine, and Lancelot and watched how they dominated the field. Their movements were purposeful and they talked to the other players with so much confidence, reassuring them when they messed up, but warning against small mistakes that could cost them big in the game. Merlin found it attractive, but had to keep reminding himself about poor George to shake himself out of it. If they had such command over their team, why did they let George get bullied? They could have stopped it. Merlin pulled Percival’s jacket tighter, why did they have to be hot assholes? There should have been a rule that prevents assholes from being physically attractive.

Merlin sighed to himself, a white puff of air slipped through the jacket and floated in front of his eyes. Merlin figured Gwen would know, or maybe her other friend Morgana could explain it. Merlin just did not understand.

 

When the players paused for a water break, Merlin handed out the water slowly. He shuffled down the line of players, his hand was covered by the sleeve cuffs of Percival’s jacket, but the were effective at keeping his hands nice and warm with his gloves.

 

“It isn’t too cold for you is it Merlin?” Leon asked as Merlin got to his side of the bench .

 

“Oh, no it isn’t too cold, I am glad Percival offered me his jacket though, otherwise it would be way too cold,” Merlin laughed.

 

“Okay, just checking on you, if you need anything feel free to let me know,” Leon said giving Merlin a reassuring smile and a pat on his shoulder, just before heading back to the field.

 

Merlin smiled to himself, that was nice of him, he thought before he shuffled his way back to the bench and observed practice from there.

 

Once practice was over Gwaine told Merlin he was going to take a quick shower, but gave Merlin the keys to his car so he could sit and warm up there. Merlin graciously thanked him and gave Percival the jacket he had given him back before running to the car and quickly turning it on and starting the heat.

 

Merlin breathed in the scent of the car, it was lightly scented by a car freshener that sat on rear-view mirror, it smelled like rosewood and Merlin’s curiosity got the better of him, so he brought the small oval shaped freshener to his nose, it smelled like rosewood and jasmine a bit too, upon further sniffing. The scent was fading a bit and probably mixing with whatever cologne Gwaine normally wore. It was a very nice smell though, Merlin wondered if Gwaine picked it out or if it were a gift.

 

After Merlin’s hands warmed up he slipped his gloves off and played a few games on his phone.

 

“Sorry, I was talking to the guys,” Gwaine said finally sliding into the driver’s seat, throwing his bag to the back.

 

“Oh, no you’re good, I was just playing a game anyways,” Merlin smiled, “so, are you going to tell me where we are going yet?”

 

“I told you it’s a surprise,” Gwaine grinned as he waved off the guys before pulling out of the parking lot, “I promise it will be fun though.”

 

“Alright, fine,” Merlin accepted it as a surprise, it would be a good way to get to know Camelot a lot better.

 

Gwaine drove on a long stretch of road that was dusty and had tree branches draped over it like curtains. It was almost the exact opposite of what everyone picture when they thought of Camelot. Often times it was only associated with its beautiful modern architecture and the iconic citadel, but not much else. This was like taking a trip through the unseen countryside and Merlin loved it. It reminded him of home, and he couldn’t help but to poke his head out the window for a moment just to feel the wind in his hair.

 

Gwaine smiled with delight at seeing Merlin enjoying the long ride, well not too long, it was only about a half hour trip, but considering how close everything is in Camelot it feels comparatively long. 

 

“Merlin, if you like this I can’t wait until you see where we’re going.”

 

“Alright, now I’m excited,” Merlin admitted, “Gwaine, do you guys go on drives like this a lot.”

 

“I suppose we do come here pretty often, so yeah.”

 

“Can i come when you guys go? Even if where we’re going isn’t all that great, this drive is everything!”

 

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll love where we are headed.”

 

Gwaine turned down a winding road which seemed even less used than the one most of the drive had been spent on. Soon two distinctive towers came into view. Merlin didn’t notice them and Gwaine was glad for that because he wanted him to be totally shocked when they finally got to it, it was definitely worth the wait.

 

Once Gwaine slowly made his way across the bend it was quite obvious structure had come into view. Merlin let out a gasp.

 

“A CASTLE!?”

 

Gwaine laughed, “oh, that old thing, yeah? This is where I figured we’d go, but you know you said you don’t like surprises, so if you want, there’s an Italian place not too far from-”

 

“Gwaine, shut up! Can we actually go in?”

 

“Oh yeah, definitely.” Gwaine laughed before getting out the car and getting Merlin’s door for him. It was funny watching him excitedly run up to the castle with so much energy. Gwaine crossed his arms and leaned against his car, while Merlin took in the facade. He was springing up and down at one point and pointing at something, then running to one end to the other, or as much area as he could cover without losing sight of Gwaine.

 

Finally, after about a good five minutes of running around, he came back to Gwaine with a loopy grin plastered onto his ecstatic face.

 

“Okay, sorry, this is really cool.”

 

“I knew you’d like it, come on let’s go inside,” Gwaine led them inside and Merlin was shocked. It was as beautiful as he had expected, but even better kept up. It seemed like the interior was the original, and yeah it could use a bit of cleaning, but other than that it was good. Gwaine showed Merlin the old armory where they now kept gaves and sports equipment which Leon has apparently meticulously organized. He showed Merlin the kitchen which they had managed to put a portable refrigerator inside of for when they stay the weekend (“you guys actually sleep in here?” “Yes.” “I want to sleep in a castle.” “Bring a change of clothes next time and sure.”). Merlin was happy to touch what felt like a standing mark of history.

 

“Finally,” Gwaine led him to the last place on the tour, “this is where we usually hang out,” Gwaine opened one of the upper floor doors to a giant bedroom, there was no bed frame, but there were two mattresses that stretched wall to wall. Merlin had never seen such big mattresses before. They even had nice shiny sheets and blankets with mounds of pillows flung around. Merlin could tell the guys spent a lot of time here, they had changes of clothing, in the closet with soap and other bathroom products in the room attached to the bedroom that they had turned into a makeshift bathroom.

 

Gwaine sat on the bed while Merlin explored, he hadn’t expected him to like it so much, but he was glad he did. When Merlin finally finished walking around he plopped right down next to Gwaine, wearing the same happy grin he had upon seeing the castle for the first time.

 

“I know I said I didn’t like surprises, but if the surprise is a castle, it’s the best thing ever,” Merlin paused then a question came to his mind, “are you guys actually allowed in here? Or is it just vacant?”

 

“This castle has been in Arthur’s family for generations, his family is really old, and now they live in the citadel, but this place has been our hangout spot since we were able to get here on our bikes.”

 

Merlin smiled, “aw, so you’ve all been friends since childhood?”

 

Gwaine sighed, “uh… not really, no,” he chuckled, “I was always friends with Lancelot, but I used to hate Arthur-”

 

“What changed?”

 

“I spent more time with him when we both started football as kids and I found out who he really was,” Gwaine admitted and then hesitated, “a total drama queen, but thoughtful, or he tries to be anyways, a pain in the ass, but caring about his circle, and lastly, a great guy.”

 

Merlin let Gwaine’s words sit in his mind for a minute before dropping back to lay on the bed. Gwaine looked down at him, “I know it’s cheesy, but-”

 

“I want to dislike him so much, but the way everyone talks about him makes him seem like this likable dollophead,” Merlin thought back to the few people he had asked in his classes, they all came to just about the same consensus, “but something isn’t lining up, if he’s such a great guy, why did he let- why did any of you let George get bullied?”

 

Gwaine had figured this would need to be resolved before he could even have a chance at making a successful move on Merlin, “it just really wasn’t something we payed attention to, it started off as just teasing, and I guess it eventually spiraled out of control, but we always thought it was just stupid arguments.”

 

“He wanted to love football so much for his dad, but all he did was get bullied in return,” Merlin sighed, “you could have all at least apologized to him, it wouldn’t change what happened, but still…”

 

Gwaine leaned over so that he was hovering over Merlin, he momentarily pursed his lips together and then finally spoke, “you’re right. We should have done more and it won’t fix or change anything, but an apology is in order, from the team as a whole.”

 

Merlin’s eyes opened wide, “wait, you’ll actually do it?”

 

Gwaine chuckled at his honest surprise, “yes, I’ll let Arthur know before the game Friday.”

 

“Gwaine…” Merlin wore a small smile as he looked up at him, “you really are a good guy, you know?”

 

“I try,” Gwaine eyed Merlin for a moment before leaning down and pressing a light, but lingering kiss on his cheek.

 

Merlin softly gasped in surprise at the sudden show of affection and then laughed, “I almost forgot this was supposed to be a date,” he playfully smirked up at Gwaine who didn’t seem to be surprised at Merlin knowing the intention of being asked to hang out.

 

“Gwen?” Gwaine questioned with his head cocked to the side.

 

“I can’t just give away my sources, Gwaine,” Merlin laughed.

 

“Please, by all means, I’d love to see the citation page for that,” Gwaine said jokingly.

 

“Oh my gosh,” Merlin laughed, “do not make a joke about schoolwork while you’re literally on top of me.”

 

“Oh? What would you like for me to do while I am on top of you?”

 

The familiar marking of blush returned to Merlin’s face. Gwaine couldn’t help but to think it looked adorable. Merlin laced his hand into Gwaine’s brown hair and looked up at him with curious, but challenging eyes, silently asking Gwaine where he was going to go with their current position. Gwaine took the lead, leaning down further to gently graze over Merlin’s lips. Merlin moved up, pushing his lips against Gwaine’s and wrapping his arm around his neck. The kiss was filled with curiosity, but fueled by desire. They were both learning what would make the other react. Gwaine was slow to add tongue to the kiss, hesitant, but confident, and in control. Merlin had no objections to this, it felt amazing. He had kissed people in the past, but it wasn’t as good as this. Maybe Gwaine had more experience, maybe it was the atmosphere of being in a castle, maybe it was how attracted Merlin was to Gwaine, but either way something about the kiss totally unraveled him in ways words could not describe.

It was perfect until Gwaine remembered the timed interruption that would be coming any second now. He almost regretted it and was thankful Lancelot had waited so long not to say anything, but as he heard the soft pacing steps out the door he knew to be ready.

 

Lancelot felt like he should knock first, it was obvious they were enjoying themselves, but then that would defeat the purpose of their plan. He would apologize to Gwaine later.

 

“Am I interrupting?”

 

Gwaine made a mental note to never let him forget that entrance, as he feigned surprise and pulled away from Merlin. It pained Gwaine not to say, “yes, you are actually, if you could go that’d be great.”

 

He instead moved off of Merlin and sat on the side of the bed.

 

“No, of course not, what would give you that idea? Merlin and I were just having a good time, right Merlin?”

 

Merlin was still a bit surprised by the kiss and Lancelot’s entrance but managed a breathy, “yeah, just a good time.”

 

“Great, so you don’t mind if I join your good time?”

 

“Of course not,” Gwaine said with a grin that Lancelot knew just told the story of how much he wanted to truly kill him.

 

Lancelot smiled to himself for a moment before getting an idea, “Merlin, did you see the other bedroom on this side? It’s just up the stairwell behind the hall door,” Lancelot said with a friendly smile, “it has the most spectacular view in the castle.”

 

“Really? Gwaine didn’t mention that.”

“That’s because Gwaine doesn’t know how to appreciate a beautiful view.”

 

“Not true,” Gwaine flashed Merlin a grin, “I was just observing one before you came in actually.”

 

“I’m going to go see that view actually,” Merlin said scrambling to the hallway before Gwaine could embarrass him further.

 

Lancelot turned his eyes away from where Merlin had exited and back to Gwaine before lying down comfortably on the bed, “I’m sorry, but you did get your makeout session if it's any consolation.”

 

“There’s that,” Gwaine laughed before lying down with him, “you were only sticking to the plan, I’m not angry.”

 

“You looked like you liked the kiss,” Lancelot commented.

 

“It was nice,” Gwaine said reflecting on it, “I almost don’t want to share-”

 

“Gwaine-”

 

“Hey, I’m just joking, besides,” Gwaine rolled over to make sure he could see the door before Merlin got back, “I don’t want to deal with Arthur’s lecture on sharing in this- what do we call it again?”

 

“Polyamory relationship are the words you are searching for,” Lancelot supplied.

 

“Yeah that, I’d miss you guys eventually.”

 

“Is that right?”

 

“Very much so… I’d even miss his majesty, the royal pain in the-”

 

“The view really is awesome!” Merlin said coming back in from the hall.

 

Gwaine and Lancelot did not bother sit up, they shared a look with each other and spent the rest of the day with Merlin. They told him stories about their time in the castle and that he was welcome there whenever. Gwaine ended up taking Merlin home, much to the surprise of Gaius when he saw the football player’s car pull up in front of his house and watched Merlin hop out of the shotgun seat.

 

Merlin only gave Gaius a lopsided smile as he greeted him. It resembled something like an apology, explanation, and a please don’t ask more all in one look. Gaius accepted that smile, but knew he would have to make Merlin give him more information than that eventully.

 

He just got there and and already proved he had no self control or intention to heed anyone's warning. It was going to be a long year for Gaius for sure.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, kudos and comments are always appreciated!


	4. It Was Only A Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys want to woo Merlin in the time span of forty eight hours, can they do it? Well, more than likely considering how much Merlin is attracted to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the crazy long wait for an update, college has kicked my ass, but hey the semester is finally over, so I don't have to take so long anymore. Maybe.

Arthur and a few of his knights gathered at his house in the citadel after Gwaine dropped Merlin off at home. The room was buzzing with light conversations and the sound of television in the background when Gwaine came inside. He sat down on the couch next to Elyan without a word. The chatter came to a start as anticipation built up.

They looked at him expectantly. Gwaine looked at Lancelot with a raised brow.

 

“I figured you’d want to do the honors,” Lancelot explained.

 

Gwaine grinned cheekily, “let all of Camelot know, I, Gwaine, made out with Merlin in the castle,” he kicked a leg up and went on about how nice it had been before Lancelot interrupted them. The players were glad to hear it had went well and let him go on for a bit. Arthur eventually cut in after Gwaine’s speech came to a stop.

 

“So, how are we going about this on Friday? Do we tell him outright what’s what after the game? Do it at the after party? Thoughts, opinions?” he looked around at them all waiting for them to say what they had in mind.

 

They all contributed their own two cents and eventually came to the consensus that it would be best to do it after the game in the castle since Merlin had been such a big fan of it.

 

“We have to make sure he doesn’t feel trapped too,” Leon threw in towards the end, “Camelot is still new to him, we should try to make him feel as welcomed as possible, but free to decline too.”

“Yeah, maybe we can do something special for him?”

“Well… there is one thing,” Gwaine said and then went on to tell them about Merlin’s issues with the treatment of George.

“Public apology?” Arthur nodded, “doable.”

“We could straighten up the room a bit, maybe get an actual bedframe for those old mattresses- actually new mattresses might also be a good idea,” Elyan suggested, “me and Lancelot have talked about it before.”

Lancelot nodded, “We were leaning towards Maya’s Bedding Shop, they have all sorts of unique shapes and sizes for mattresses and bed frames, we could go tonight. They’re usually open late.

“Do we all have to go,” Gwaine began to complain.

“Do you want to sleep in the bed?” Arthur asked him, “then you should be there to give a say into what we put in the castle.

“Fine,” Gwaine huffed but agreed.

They discussed other ways to quickly woo Merlin both leading up to the game and shortly after and get to know him a bit better. They pulled Gwen’s opinion in by texting her throughout the discussion, and she repeatedly assured them Merlin was more than attracted to them. She would not tell them how she knew that for sure in the interest of not repeating what Merlin had told her privately, but she said they didn’t need to worry about anything. Gwen was a good friend and always reliable, so they did not push or question her too much. Once they finished to deciding on everything, they headed out to the furniture store.

This shop was the most expensive furniture shop in Camelot, there were a couple of smaller, more specialized in antique furniture shops in the lower part of town that had sprung up in recent years, but Maya’s Bedding Shop was also the oldest. Despite its name, the store carried far more than just bedding, there were dressers, desks, chests, curtains, stained glass murals, and gorgeous chandeliers that hung from the ceiling to be seen by everyone that came in.

The shop owner’s eyes widened at the sight of Arthur’s entire group entering. The last time they had visited it was to fix up the kitchens in the castle a bit more, it was always nice to have customers that she was confident would buy something.

“Welcome to Maya’s, can I help you with anything tonight?”

Arthur nodded familiar with the shopkeeper, “evening Freya,” he greeted her, “yes, actually. I was hoping you could help me find a bed frame.”

 

“A very large bedframe,” Gwaine interjected. Leon elbowed him and shook his head while Arthur glared daggers at him.

Freya only laughed, “how big are we talking?”

 

Arthur rubbed the back of his head and tried to recall the size of the space they were dealing with, but he couldn’t find it. Thankfully, Leon remembered details like that far better than he did.

“We were thinking an Alaskan king size bed, if you maybe had something bigger… maybe that,” Leon answered for him, “it’s a pretty big space.”

Freya cocked her head to the side, “are you guys messing with that old castle again?”

“When aren’t we?” Elyan laughed.

Freya knew just what they needed and ushered them towards the back of the store. We just got a new size of mattress and of course frames to match it, I think it will be exactly what you guys are looking for.”

She entered one of the side display rooms and gestured to the largest bed any of them had ever seen. It was nearly the size of two Alaskan king-sized bed. The wooden frame was ornate, with spiraling floral designs engraved into the posts of the canopy cradle. They all sat on it, or in Lancelot and Gwaine’s cases dropped on it like it was the first bed they’d ever seen. It was the perfect size and felt just about right for them. Arthur nodded in satisfaction, set on getting it, but decided it might be better if he didn’t just say he’d take it without at least asking how much it was so he knew whether or not his father would be yelling at him or not later.

Freya laughed, “now, that’s the rough part, $20,000 (17,805 euros, 15,374 pounds) for the frame and mattress you’re looking at. It comes with comforter set of your choosing and a lifetime warrant only forfeited if there is evidence of intentional destruction.”

Arthur nodded, “this will work, can it be delivered to the castle tomorrow?”

“For an extra delivery fee, yes.”

“I’ll take it, can see the comforter set options?”

“Right, come with me and I can show you back at the front while we get the paperwork out of the way.”

As they were about to exit Leon sent Arthur a questioning look, “you don’t think your father is going to say anything about you spending that much money in a single night?”

“He gave me extra money to use to restore the castle, granted us using it to fuck around isn’t what he has in mind when he says restore, but we’re doing a good enough job. Besides, who is to say the king who used to live there didn’t have a bed that big?”

Leon only shook his head and chuckled, “whatever you say Arthur.”

“I know what I’m doing,” Arthur assured him.

Leon nodded and went with the others to decide what colors to use in the room. To the surprise of no one, they went with red. Gwaine handled the seating area, taking the task of finding a nice set more seriously than any other decorating choice he had ever made. Merlin’s reaction to the castle had been precious, if he could get him to light up like that with a few more added touches, then he’d take the time to fully understand what chaise lounge sofa was. If not for furniture’s sake, for Merlin’s.

By the time they were done, they realized a good few problems with what they had done, such as how much time they did not have to do all of the decorating they wanted, and also having to figure out what to do with the stuff they already had.

Naturally, the only logical solution they saw was to work all night and die the following day at school all for the sake of getting everything they wanted done.

Surely, Merlin wouldn’t be able to tell something was up.

“Gwaine, are you feeling alright?” Merlin asked him the following day when he caught up with him in the halls between lunch and a study break. Gwaine’s eyes were red and he seemed to have much less energy than the past few days Merlin had seen him. “Are you stressing out about the game tomorrow?”

“Hm?” Gwaine squeezed his eyes shut then opened them again, “oh, yeah, yeah the game- it’s yeah, totally what’s got me like this, sorry. I’ll try to be better company later, I promise.”

Merlin shook his head, “no it’s okay, I was just worried about is all. You’re sure it’s just the game bothering you?”

Gwaine smiled at him in a fond manner, “worried about me? Aren’t you sweet?”

Merlin looked around and found Lancelot walking up to them he looked at him questioning eyes that asked for an explanation.

Lancelot shook his head before stopping in to fill Merlin in so he wasn’t worried the guy he just went on a date with was dying or something, “Gwaine just stayed up late, he’s fine, if he gets too loopy just give him a shove and tell him to cut it out.”

“Oh, okay, so he isn’t stressed about the game, he just has an awful sleep schedule?”

While they were talking Gwaine lied down on one of the hall benches, not caring about the hard surface, just absolutely exhausted.

“Well, he’s more so worried about after the game than the game itself,” Lancelot teased information and made Merlin giddy and curious.

“What happens after the game?”

“Well, that’s a surprise.”

“What’s with you guys and surprises?”

“I promise you’ll either hate it. A lot. Or you’ll have the best night of your night.”

Merlin rolled his eyes, “it’ll probably be some stupid football related thing, right?”

Lancelot laughed, “what did I just say, Merlin?”

“I’m just saying,” Merlin laughed, “can you really top a castle?”

Lancelot gave in a bit, there was no harm in revealing a bit, was there? “fine, a preview so you know what you’re walking into.”

“Yes! Is it a secret room in the castle? Is it a dungeon? Is it- mph-“

Merlin didn’t get to finish his ramblings because Lancelot had kissed him. He was fast to do it, and even faster at pulling away. Merlin’s eyes shot open and he looked at Gwaine, who figured out Merlin would be concerned about his reaction and was holding a thumbs up.

“There’s your preview Merlin.”

“Wait, no- what? I’m confused.”

“Merlin, I think you’re cute.”

“O… kay, but are you and Gwaine like a package deal or something? Is it like kiss one, kiss the other or was that like a hint to throw me off or- “?

The bell rang to tell the students it was time to move on to their next classes. Gwaine sluggishly got up and shuffled up to them, “Merlin, remember when you trusted me with the castle? Trust me with this too, you’ll like it.”

Merlin was beginning to feel a blush spread to his cheeks, but he still nodded, he didn’t feel uncomfortable and the castle was a pretty good surprise, maybe Camelot was a lot stranger of a place than he had initially realized.

And something about the idea of kissing Lancelot in front of Gwaine caused a heat to spread somewhere besides his reddened cheeks.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed. Comments and kudos are always appreciated.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed.  
> You can follow me on tumblr if you want my name is Slytherinvulcan221b! I will follow back


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